I don’t know why I haven’t included this photo in my CLA portfolio. But then again, I don’t know why I put anything in my CLA portfolio. It was taken in Louisville, KY in2010. That’s me and my wife trapped … Continue reading MME3 – Odd One Out Reflections
Now that I have decided to continue my “Mosaic of Life” posts, I need to fill in some blanks. The Basset Hound on the leach is Beulah. She had a fenced in yard that she roamed unleashed, but she did also love to explore other territories. She was my last pet, and my second favorite. (Sam, who was a dachound was my first personal pet was my first.) Continue reading Mosaic of Life #139 – Beulah and A Friend
Since I have decided that my “Mosaic of Life” is more than a one-year project, it’s time to fill in some missing pieces. Let’s start with the first one. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #153 – It Shoulda Been The First Mosaic
One of my favorite indoor plants is the Nerve Plant. So, I decided to make a version of it in My Mind’s Eye Continue reading Nerve Plant Personfiied…
I was careful to precisely state the title of this mosaic. The “thing” I miss the most in my life is the 1800 sq ft workshop that I left behind when I moved into my RetCom in 2021. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #143 The Thing I Miss The Most…
“My Mind’s Eye” is one of the most descriptive phrases I have ever come across. To me, it is more than just a visual element—it’s packed with symbolism. Typically, the eye represents perception, consciousness, and awareness. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #137 – My Mind’s Eye
We were about halfway through or 2011 Canadian adventure when we happened upon an Acadian village in New Brunswick, Canada. It was a very interesting place, but in my mind the star of it all was the old greeter above who welcomed us to his home. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #123 – My Old Canadian Buddy
Now that yet another summer is soon to pass, I thought I would give you another look at our Homestead Flowers. The flower beds above and throughout the rest of the yard were my wife’s territory. The veggie gardens were mine. I didn’t mess with hers, and she didn’t mess with mine. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #105 – Homestead Flowers
The author appreciates the variety of plants in an Indiana University greenhouse and enjoys the artistic aspect of photography, expressing uncertainty about specific plant names and appreciating the presence of infrastructure. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #84 – Medussa or Dead?
I am coming to believe that sometimes the most beautiful things are the simplest and smallest things. The subtle colors above draw me in Continue reading Mosaic of Life #116 – Simplicity 3
For this mosaic, I want to talk a little about AI (artificial intelligence) and how it relates to “My Mind’s Eye”. I am a techie, but even I am getting a little disturbed about the constant presence of AI in my life. Maybe the most disturbing thing is AI is that it is becoming more and more dominant as the days and months go by. I realize that this is new stuff that will eventually settle down to some established state, but right now it just seems too pervasive. Some say that AI will replace artists, but, I kind of … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #94 – Ode To Van Gogh – My Mind’s Eye
I’m not much of a collector of things, but one thing I have collected are model cars, particularly the metal kind of the 1/32 scale from the 1960s. They currently occupy the bottom three shelves in my six-shelf curio cabinet. Being a teenager in the 1960s, I was intimately familiar with most of the cars of that era. My first new car, or any car for that matter, was a 1970 was a Mustang Fastback. I wore it out by 1973. Three years was the typical lifespan of cars during that period of time. Then came the 1980s and all … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #31 – One Of My Hobbies…
It has been a while since I posted an artsy mosaic, so here goes. Almost all my life I have had a green thumb, but that was mostly the outdoor variety. I had my first veggie garden before I was 8 years old. Of course, I don’t specifically remember all those early childhood dates, but I do use one reference to establish the date. In 1955, my mother abandoned us to looker for greener pastures, and I do remember not too long before that is when I was raising radishes, green onions, and leaf lettuce in a small plot in … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #75 The Thing About Orchids
Here is another post of a huge plant I found at the Indiana University Biology Dept greenhouse. This guy was crowding the 12 ft ceiling. The “Elkhorn” label was for a plant in the foreground, not this one. I’m going to have to go back and find this guy’s name Continue reading Mosaic of Life #81 – Huge
I think the flower above is an Oriental Poppy, but if I am wrong, please let me know. But, this flower was the cause of one of my most serious fights with my wife in our 35 years of marriage. It came in 2003 and totally surprised me. We were in our homestead three years, and I decided to help my wife with some weeding of her flower beds. Before I go any further, I need to tell you that my wife was a SERIOUS flower gardener. Back to the story. When I saw some thistles growing in her beds, … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #41 Oriental Poppy?
I know I am using plenty of clichés here, but I think you get the idea. Go to the big city, and they spend big bucks to keep the above flower out of their lawns. Being basically a country boy, I love the diversity of a country lawn. It is not just one boring plot of the same old grass. I remember when we first moved into our country homestead in 2000, there was a yard pump in the side lawn with wild violets around it. When I left in 2021, almost the entire 3 acres were covered in violets … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #44 – One Man’s Trash…
I think this is one of my most artsy photographs I have taken. It is kinda in the vain of my many reflection pictures. But, this one was taken through a large window in the Terminal Tower building lobby in Cleveland, Ohio. Below is the exterior view of the building. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #89 – A Mosaic In A Mosaic
Just when I think I have photographed the most complex “Into The Depth” flower, another one come to take the “Most” title. If I were to make an abstract painting that described the complexity of my mind, it would probably closely resemble this picture. Just so you know, this picture was not modified in the least from when it was taken. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #86 – The Most Mysterious
I have found out that Lego is not just a bunch of blocks, but instead it is a creation yet to be discovered. It took about 4 hours to build this 771 piece LEGO Icon Succulents. It was a very peaceful 4 hours. Yes, I know this is a “kit” that has probably been sold to thousands of different people. But this is just what I needed almost a year ago to finally push me in a different direction. It was the beginning of the process, and I’m certainly glad it happened. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #78. Lego Beauty
These flowers remind me of something entirely different. What makes this bouquet so beautiful is the variety of individual plants that make it up. Yes, a dozen roses tell a story usually involving love, but a beautiful variety of flowers such as above shows us that diversity of life is where all the beauty resides.
This mosaic was taken on the shores of the Great Lakes. Indiana only has a minute segment of shoreline, but what it has is beautiful indeed. It is at the very southern end of a 317-mile Lake Michigan. Most of the weather in this part of the country comes from Canada, so I suppose that is the reason that many of the rocks and pebbles accumulate at the southern end. To me, this mosaic kinda looks like organized chaos. I especially love the blue rocks scattered among the others. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #74 – Chaos (Double Memory)…
One of my favorite things to look for when I visited local or regional museums were containers. Back in the day before TV commercials, magazines, and such, the primary way to get attention to their products was by creative packaging. This picture was taken in the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. I will give you more details about the park in a future mosaic. For this mosaic, I just what to focus on the containers I found there. Each one tells a story of it’s own. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #73 – Old Fashioned Containers Tell A Story
I don’t remember when my fascination with glass began. Maybe it was my first visit in the 1980s to a museum in my wife’s hometown, Neenah, Wisconsin, named Bergstrom-Mahler – Museum of Glass. There are literally thousands of pieces of glass art. I will save any more details of that museum for future mosaics.
The last time I was at the Grand Canyon was when this picture was taken in 2005. I have been there on two other occasions. What was special this time was that we stayed in the lodge on the south end of the canyon. We could lie in our bed at the national park lodge as see the canyon about 50 feet away. It was like the other two times I had visited there in that it just didn’t seem real. The grandeur of it was just beyond imagination. One of the “woulda, coulda, shoulda” things I regret not doing … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #28 – Surreal Landscape
This picture was taken in January 2014 This picture was taken at our 21-year homestead that I left almost 3 years ago. Due to my deafness and resulting loss of balance, snow was always a hazard for me. Over my life … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #47 – A Favorite Homestead Picture
If you read the previous post about “Analog Artsy” you probably get the idea that I will likely avoid this technique in the future. There is some truth to that, but some of the creations I made even impressed me, and I am a hard person to impress. One of those is the Mosaic #7 above of the Indy Skyline. I spent the better part of the day doing this one. As usual, it started out with a photo that I traced the basic features I wanted to convey. From there it was all freehand. Since this picture was to be “pen … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #7 – Indy Skyline – In Pen & Ink
This site is a celebration of life and the many pieces that make it up. Most of us go through life dreaming of the big things, but in reality, life is mostly made up of the little things that happen every day. RJsMosaic is about celebrating those small things as well as the big ones. It is also about celebrating the things that make us the unique people we are. It is about our special talents, achievements, and stories of our lives. It is about appreciating each day the Lord gives us. If this appeals to you, I invite you to … Continue reading RJsMosaic Is A Celebration Of Life…
I am moving along quite well with my Artsy project and its Mosaic wall. With this post I give you “Piano Flowers“. I guess I have to explain the title a little. 🙃 Here in my RetCom (retirement community) they … Continue reading Artsy Mosaic #4 – Piano Flowers
My brain seems to always be running a 100mph. I have been looking for yet another graphical representation of it in action and I think I have found it. Of course, I have said that a hundred times in the … Continue reading Describing My Brain… Chapter 23
Next time I will be starting to relay stories of the early church. Up front I want to make sure you understand that this journey into the history of the church and how we got here will be a mosaic rather than a timeline approach. It will also likely be a “people’s history type account. That is it will where possible be based on accounts of the common people rather than the primary leaders of the time. It will be a mosaic instead of a timeline. In each post I will give you a small piece of the history that … Continue reading A Mosaic….
